The Federal Government yesterday said that government's programs may be halted if the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and those in other sectors were fully met.
Addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Nigeria's President in Abuja, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said government has been spending so much on tertiary education and urged ASUU to reconsider its demand since other sectors need intervention.
"The country belongs to all of us. If we all insist that every sector's problems must be completely solved, we will down tools, we will not work, then the country will stop working. If we say every problem we face in this country, we will not work until it is resolved, then I'm sure there is no sector that will work.
"It is our country, we are partners with ASUU, we are friends, they are our patriots and we understand the critical roles the university teachers are playing to create a new society we are hoping to have. But at the same time, we have to put the nation first.
"I know all of us desire more from the system, but the truth is that there are limitations and from the limitations we have, we believe ASUU really needs to do a rethink and ensure that we reopen our universities because we are feeling the pains of our children being at home.
"Government has priorities; education remains the number one priority and will continuously remain the number one priority of a developing country like Nigeria. There is no way we can avoid it. The quality of human capital is going to determine the future of our country. But at the same time, when you look at the environment today, we are dealing with power supply, railway that has broken down many years ago.
"We're dealing with roads, creating an enabling environment for the industries to prosper. There is no area today that you touch that you do not have an urgency for the government to deal with.
"I just want to say that it is unfortunate that our students are still at home. It is very sad because the Federal Government has done so much in the last three years for education. People can compare the statistics. When we were on the Good Governance Tour and we got to the University of Benin, we saw 37 projects completed, including the new Senate chambers built under this administration. Most of the projects were carried out through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
"There is no federal university today that does not have multiple projects. There is no federal university at the moment, including polytechnics and colleges of education, even state polytechnics, we are funding them," Labaran Maku said.
Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, insisted that the Federal Government has done its best to finance education, but ASUU has been giving the public wrong impressions that government is doing nothing on the 2009 agreement that was signed.
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